Tidy Idleness

If you can’t make it out in the picture, my youngest daughter (5 yrs. old) wrote ‘LOL’ all over the bathroom mirror with toothpaste. She also made a few sparking blue smiley faces, but someone had to pee so I had to get out of the bathroom before I could take another picture.

Her older siblings did the same thing around that age, although sometimes they’d make stick figures or trees or mustaches that aligned with their face when they looked in the mirror just right.

But I didn’t laugh and take pictures of their “art.” I didn’t ask them if they had fun. Or buy them some finger-paint and big sheets of paper and show them how to really have fun getting messy without having to use toothpaste and bathroom mirror. I didn’t teach my kids any type of valuable lesson except not to make mama angry.

I’m a different mother now thanks to the forgiveness and empathy from my older children.